Themes (Current Research Projects)
JUB Lab is currently centered around three major research themes: (1) Governance for Multifunctionality and Human-Nature Connections, (2) Landscape Modeling and Human-Wildlife Coexistence in the Anthropocene, and (3) Citizen Science and Urban Biodiversity. The lab is open to collaboration with students and visiting researchers. For details on studentship, internship, and fellowship opportunities, contact the themes’ leaders.
Theme 1: Governance for Multifunctionality and Human-Nature Connections
Led by Sara Borgström (Google Scholar), the aim is to investigate the existing challenges and opportunities for incorporating nature into the process of urban and regional planning and policy. This requires a comprehensive, multi-dimensional assessment of urban sustainability, multi-level governance of wicked urban challenges, and the potential for developing urban green-blue infrastructure (UGBI) in densifying urban areas. The impacts of climate change on these issues are addressed with a greater focus on the human dimensions of urbanization-nature-climate nexus. Mixed-method research strategies are used to measure nature experience, perceptions, public attitudes, human preferences, and social resilience. In addition, the role of urban policy makers, land-use planners, and regional decision makers is analyzed using a variety of qualitative methods in urban social science. This knowledge is combined with ecological dimensions of urban and regional planning to better support urban and regional sustainability through land and water planning.
Theme 2: Landscape Modeling and Human-Wildlife Coexistence in the Anthropocene
Led by Amin Rastandeh (Google Scholar), the aim is to develop a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of human-environment interactions in urban and non-urban landscapes in an era of climate change. The central concept is to integrate field-collected data with geo-spatial modeling methods for supporting data-driven, evidence-based decisions on the future of landscapes at multiple scales, from towns to ecoregions. Focused on the complexity of landscapes at the nexus of human activities, biodiversity, and climate change, the overarching goal is to generate actionable knowledge for creating wildlife-friendly, socially-inclusive, and ecologically resilient landscapes. Research under this theme is designed and conducted to benefit a wide range of end-users, from landscape architects and spatial planners to land-use policy makers and locals who depend directly on land and water.
Theme 3: Citizen Science and Urban Biodiversity
To Be Updated Soon.